Marcin Legeżyński Thanksgiving Day

As you are entering the house, the smell of roast turkeyroast turkeyroast turkey, a cheerful atmosphere, and colourful decorations draw your attention. What is happening? It’s simple. Thanksgiving Day has come! The national celebration of the U.S.A., Canada and a few other countries like Grenada and Liberia, has a tradition dating back to the 17th, or even 16th century. According to some sources, the first Thanksgiving feastfeastfeast took place in 1565 in Florida and was celebrated by Spanish immigrants, who held a festive meal together with the local Indian tribe of Timucuan. For the Spanish, the celebration was a way of thanking God for crossing the ocean and getting to America safely. Other historians mention the festive meeting of the Plymouth settlerssettlers [settler]settlers with the Wampanoag Native Americans in 1621, which was a harvest celebration to give thanks to God for the crops. Whichever version is more accurate, today, millions of Americans celebrate Thanksgiving Day on the fourth Thursday of November to thank for the harvest and other blessings of the past year. America first celebrated this national day of thanksgiving in 1789 to commemoratecommemoratecommemorate the end of the Revolutionary War and the adoption of the Constitution of the U.S.A.

What exactly happens on Thanksgiving Day? The main part of the celebration is, of course, delicious food. Most families have a festive dinner featuring roast turkey with stuffingstuffingstuffing made from breadcrumbs and sage. There is also cranberry saucecranberry saucecranberry sauce with fresh berries and juice, mashed potatoesmashed potatoesmashed potatoes with buttery gravygravygravy, and brussel sproutsbrussel sprouts [brussel sprout]brussel sprouts. Most people add milk to the mashed potatoes so that they are silky and smooth. There are plenty of other side dishesside dishes [side dish]side dishes as well. To complete the meal, pumpkin piepumpkin piepumpkin pie is served for dessert, made with lots of raisins and the best flour. After carving the turkeycarving the turkey [carve the turkey]carving the turkey, some people leave aside one of its bones to dry. This is called a wishbonewishbonewishbone. Once the meal is over, two children make their wishes and break the wishbone. Whoever ends up with the bigger piece can hope for their wish to come true. Another Thanksgiving tradition is the Turkey Pardon. Each year, the president of the United States receives a gift of two live turkeys. At a White House ceremony, the president “pardonspardons [pardon]pardons” the turkeys so they can live on a farm. But Thanksgiving Day is more than just food. In many North American cities, there are colourful parades on the streets. One of the most famous ones is Macy’s Parade in New York City, organised by the famous shopping centre, Macy’s. At the parade, thousands of people watch giantgiantgiant inflatableinflatableinflatable balloons that floatfloatfloat between the skyscrapers. Also, most families travel to see their relatives and friends, or to family reunionsfamily reunions [family reunion]family reunions on Thanksgiving Day, which makes it the busiest time in the U.S. for driving. Thanksgiving is also a good time to help people who are not as lucky as you. Some Americans volunteervolunteer volunteer to serve food at homeless shelters and charities or help the homeless in another way. Most of all, people reflect on good things that happened to them in the passing year and express their gratitudegratitudegratitude to friends and family.

1 Źródło: Marcin Legeżyński, licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0.